Car coupler



Dec. 7, 1926. 1,609,444

C. H. TOMLINSON CAR COUPLER F'iled Jan. 51 1924 2 Sheet-Sheet 1 Wm W Dec. 7 1926. 1,609,444

c. H. TOMLINSON can COUPLER 1 Filed Jan. 1 1924- 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l8 wfm Patented Dec. 7, 1926.

CHARLES H.1OMLINSON, or MANSFIELD, OHIO, AS15316;N0 3fro H TOMLINSON COUPLER COMPANY, or MANSFIELD, 01110, A ooaronerro v or OHIO.

CAR COUPLER; j

My invention relates to automatic car couplers for mechanically connected cars and is especially adapted for use on mine or industrial cars where it is not especially desired to couple the cars end about, but where the cars are usually positioned in a certain relation to each other and are maintained in that relation.

When it is' desired to couple the cars end about it is then .advisable to have couplers heads which are duplicates.

My invention resides in the new and novel construction and combination of the various parts hereinafter disclosed and set forth in the specification and claims and disclosed in the drawings accompanying this specification.

In the drawings Fig. 1 isa top plan view of two coupler heads in coupled relation.

Fig. 2 is a side view of Fi 1.

Fig.' 3 is a bottom view of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a face view of the left hand half of the coupler shown in the previous figures.

Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional'view of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6- is a vertical view of Fig.1 in par: tial section, showing the relation of the various parts and'th'e locking cam for maintaining the parts in coupled relation.

Fig. 7 is a side view in partial section of two cooperating heads in partially coupled relation to show the manner in which the locking cam operates when the heads are being brought into coupled relation or when they are being parted.

In the preferred embodiment of my invention I employ two coupler heads A and 13 arranged to cooperate with each other and which are secured to the ends of the cars to be coupled by means of the ball member 1 which is secured to the tailpiece 2, and which in turn has a projecting member 3 projecting therefrom and" upon which are mounted in slidable relation thereto the members 4 and 5. Themembers 4 and 5 are held separated by means of the spring 6 interposed therebetween and are limited in their distance apart by the end of the member 2 and the head 7 of the member 3. A tail piece so constructed to yieldably c011- nect a coupler head to a car is not new and the'details of construction are not claimed herein.

As is well known to those skilled in the art, themember 1 is secured to the car bot-- tom through the medium of what is known as an anchorage casting and whichpermits universal movement of the coupler head with respect to the car. The coupling member A is provided with a hollow body member 8 and positioned within the hollow member 8 is a partition 9 against which the memher 5 may butt, and the body, member at its extreme end is also provided with a collar 10 secured thereto by the through bolts 11,

The collar 10 has a central passage through which extends the tail piece stem 2 in slidable relation. It is evident that if the member 1 is fixed to a car body and pressure is brought against the face end of the member 8 sufficient to cause it to yield, that the spring 6 will be compressed through the movement of the members 5 and 8 in a dire-r. tion toward the anchorage casting, the member 4 being held against movement by the stem 2. It will also be evident that if the member 8 is moved away from the car to which it may be secured, that in that case the members 4, 8 and 10 will move in a direction away from the anchorage casting thereby ,compressing'the spring 6 since the member 5 is immovable, v I

The front'end of the member '8 is provided with a rectangular recess 12 having an enlarged opening adapted to receive the projecting pin 13. While I have shown the recess 12 as rectangular it may be of other suitable shape. The side faces of the member A are each provided with an inwardly projecting flange 14. which form the boundary of the opening to the recess 12 and strengthen the'sides. The lower edge of the member 8 and central thereof is cut away,

together with the adjacent portion of the body memb'er8 toform a recess or slot. 15 in which is positioned the locking latch 16. Depending from the lowerv face of the body member 8' adjacent the lateral sides of the slot 15 arehinge lugs 17 adapted to receive the hinge pin 18. Mountedupon the hinge pin 17 is the locking latch'19 provided ,with a collar portion 20 laterally pierced to re ceive the pin 18. and an operating member 21 projecting rearwar'dly therefrom and provided with lateral projecting members 22 whichproject beyond the side faces ofthe coupler and are adapted to receive either 11!) the hand or foot for rotating the locking latch abflout its Pint-in order-torelease the coupler head B from the coupler head A when desired. Secured to the member 21' and the bodym'ember v8 is "a spring 23 i'for normally holding the locking latch in a looking position'with respect to the coupler B. hen the member 21 is rotated about the pin 18 by application of force tothe member 22 the locking latoh will be rotated about the member 18 -as shown in Fig. 7, and the spring- 23 -will be placed under tension as long asthe' locking latch is held. as shown in F ig. 7,;put upon releasing the"force;ap plied to the'member 22, thespring 23 will return-the locki-ng latch to itsnormal position showninfFi'g. 6; The locking latch is also provided with a projecting locking lug 2 rigidly secured to thecollar 2O and adapt-.

ed to engagethe coupling head B. The locking "latch" has its-pivotal end so constructed that when the coupler pin 13 is 'moved into-orout otcoupl-ing relation with as-being flush withthe inner lower surface 26 of the coupler head 8 and as shown, the

pin 13 may be either advancing or retracting. If the coupler pins 13; is advancing into coupling relation with-thecoupler head A, the locking latc-h'ltl isautomatically rotated'about the pin 18 from the'position showniirFig. 6' to thatshown' inlig. 7. It

the coupling pin 13 ;is being withdrawn from coupling relation with'thecoupling head A, the locking'latch 18 must lirst be moved manually from" the position shown in'Fig. 6 to theposition shown in Fig.7.

The coupling head B has thesame method t heads are broug it together with the r. faces 2 11100111121011 asshown 1n; the various figures,

of securing to the car as the coupling-head A and also has the same butling spring 311 rangement us the head A. The forward end of the coupler l1ead-B, however, is provided with the projecting pin 13. Thesides 27 of the projecting pin13 adjacent the inwardly projecting"face-flange 28 arespaced apart approximately the same "distance as the.

flanges 14 and hence the projection has a width substantially that of the rectangular opening in thefaceefthe cooperatingcoupler head, 'This'eonstruction' providesthat when the heads are coupled relation they are held against relative lateral andvertical movement, ai-idsinc'e the opening and pin are of irregular'c'ross1 section, this will .prevent alsothe-heads-rotating relative to eachot-her. The perti'onof the pin: 13in-adVance-c0f the straightportion is for-med with; verticalta- 1perings'ide's 29 and'the oblique tapering sides 30 by means e f-which the coupling head's A11 and B are guided into position when the coupler heads .arebrought together. The upper arid lower faces of the pin 15ers to a large extent Hat and parallel and as i preter tomahe'the adjacent'in'ner faces-0t the-walls of the memberS to' correspondtherewith and in close relation thereto, the front end of the pin 13 will be supported to a large degree by the inne rwalls of the member 8 while the rear end of the pin will be supported andheld in. position by the inner .edge of thel'lange 1.4., a I

in the lo'wertaceof the pi n;13 isa lateral slot :31. the surface of which is thearcot a circle ha\ -1ng aradiusthe .center of which iszsnbstantiall yrthecenter of the pin 18when thellHLClSjflFGglll coupled position, also the face of the lug which engages w ththe surface of the slot 311-is jtheQarcbfa circle whose radius is substantially equal to that of the slot 31 and the center of which is th center'o'fthe,pin;18. V p

it will be evidentthatwhen two coupler llQfiFlSfAitll'CLB are brought into coupled-relation that if the he'adsiare notin perfect al inement longitudinallythatthe entrance ot the point of the pin 13 within the opening12' will bring the heads into a lined "relation. This will take place providingthe headsare not too far out of alinement laterally; =As

soon as the headsare in a tinalcoupled position they will be held there so tar. as lateral and rotatable relation are-concerned through the relation of the-pin 13 on the-headBwith respect to the openings within the member-8 .ofthe headAL- They-will-be held against longitudinal movement away from each 0thj er through the -locking ;'latch- -19 engaging with the slot 81. 'As.already explainedlthei locking latch 19 will so .operatefwhen the heads are brought together that the-coupling is made auton'iatically ifthehea ds gare sufifieiently alined that 'the-pinl3may-enter the recessyor o ening 12 Then-the two the heads are held in thisposition through groove '31.

:By having the pin-13 of substantially full width of, the opening to the-recess 12 (and the side walls 29; tapering .to; a..point --from fullwidtln l find that such construction is superior to apign otrelative small crossusecalining when disposed at an; angle to each other 1 much, more readily than. w1th.,a,relatively-small pin, and the tapering side faces of the pin engaging-the fiangeslt tend-to the member 22 and pressing downwardly untion ascompared'with the-opening as it permits the couplerheads coming together and.

til the latch assumes the position in Fig. 7 when the cars can be separated from each other.

There are, of course, modifications Which may be made from the disclosure herein, but I do not wish to be limited other than by my claims.

I claim: v

1. A car coupler comprising a air of heads, means on each head to attach t e head. to a car, an abutting face on each head, an integrally formed projecting member on one head and having a rectangular cross section adjacent the face, the other head having an open recess of substantially full height and width of the head to receive the projecting member, the side faces of the projecting member converging toward each other and being tapered substantially their full projection from the abutting faces and cooperating with correspondingly tapered side faces of the recess opening to guide the heads laterally and to maintain the heads against lateral and angular displacement when in coupled position, and the other faces of the projecting member cooperating with the corresponding faces of the recess to maintain the heads in alinement and means to lock the heads in coupled relation.

2. A car coupler comprising a pair of cooperating heads of different construction, one head provided with a rectangular opening of substantially full Width and height of the coupler face and surrounded by anarrow flat butting surface, the Walls of the recess comprising inwardly converging faces to be engaged by and to guide the cooperating coupler head and forming a flaring mouth the upper and lower faces'of the recess back from the opening being parallel for a considerable distance while the side faces of the flaring mouth extend farther back into the recess than the upper and lower faces; the cooperating head having an integrally formed projection from its face and surrounded by a narrow fiat butting face to engage the like face on the other coupler head, the, projection being of substantially full Width, adjacent the butting face, of the opening of the recess in me companion coupler and having converging side walls for substantially its full projection and shorter converging upper and lower faces adapted to engage the converging faces on the cooperating head toguide and aline the heads, the upper and lower faces of the projectionback from the diverging faces being parallel for a considerable distance and adapted to cooperate with the parallel faces on the cooperating head to prevent relative vertical and rotatable movement of the heads, a slot in one face of the projection, a spring-held latch on the other head to engage the slot to hold the heads against relative longitudinal movement in one direction and arranged to be automatically moved when the heads are brought together.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

CHARLES H. TOMLINSON. 

